Device for storing and conveying in an orientated manner of small articles

ABSTRACT

Device for storing small articles and conveying them in an orientated manner, includes a storage container (10), a slope conveyor (12), and an orientation conveyor (20) which is arranged parallel to the slope conveyor and is provided with a defined segment (68) for returning excessive small articles or those which are not orientated to the feed area (32) of the slope conveyor (12). The slope conveyor is provided with the actual conveying segment (50), a deflecting segment (52) for receiving small articles which are forced out of the conveying segment (50) laterally, the small articles arriving back in the feed area (32) of the slope conveyor (12) on the deflecting segment (52). A pile-up of small articles arrives in the output area (40) of the slope conveyor (12) and a localized circulation is formed in this location which prevents the small articles from entering the orientation segment (64).

PRIOR ART

The invention is directed to a device for storing small articles andconveying the latter in an orientated manner. In a known device of thisgeneric type, the small articles which are rejected in the orientationconveyor are returned practically along the entire length of the slopeconveyor. Above a determined conveying speed of the slope conveyor,there is a tendency in this device for a circulation pile-up of smallartic-es to be formed in the transition area between the slope conveyorand the orientation conveyor, the circulation pile-up is limited to thisarea and then also obstructs the passage of the small articles into theorientation segment if no back-up has formed there.

ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION

In contrast, the arrangement, according to the invention, comprising thecharacterizing features of the main claim, has the advantage that smallarticles are returned from the orientation conveyor in a defined area onthe slope conveyor, the area being so far removed from its higherstarting area that no circulation pile-up, which takes place in someareas and obstructs the access of the small articles to the continuingorientation segment, can form there or in the feed area of theorientation conveyor.

It is particularly advantageous if, the small articles rejected in theorientation conveyor are discarded on the feed area of the slopeconveyor in a determined manner. The formation or maintenance of apile-up in the slope conveyor is accordingly concentrated in its feedarea and the pile-up breaks up when conveyed to the output area, so thatan (intermediate) storage function can also be assigned to the slopeconveyor without impairing the orderly supply of small articles to theorientation conveyor.

A simple construction, in which the small articles are rejected from theorientation conveyor without jamming, follows from the constructionalfeatures.

The area of use of the device can be enlarged if the return segment hasits own drive and/or if the run-off of the orientation conveyor isconstructed as a buffer segment which is connected with the orientationsegment without interfaces.

The concentration of the pile-up formation on the feed area of the slopeconveyor and the suitability of the latter as a secondary orintermediate storage is supported and improved in an effective manner,according to claim 8, if a deflecting segment for small articles whichare forced out laterally is provided adjacent to the conveying segmentof the slope conveyor so as to be parallel with it, the deflectingsegment being preferably located in the same slant plane, its surfaceand drive being adapted to the nature of the small articles in such away that the latter arrive back at the feed area of the slope conveyorfrom the deflecting segment. The deflecting segment provides that smallarticles do not jam in a crosswise manner relative to the conveyingdirection and that the pile-up breaks up in a reliable manner along theconveying segment so that the small articles are already extensivelyseparated when they arrive in the output area of the slope conveyor.

The angle of inclination of the slope conveyor be at least large enoughso that small articles lying on top of one another slide off of oneanother where the possibility of deflection exists and at least when thedrive is running. Tests have shown that by means of this invention adevice can be provided in which the conveying capacity can be variedwithin wide margins without a loss of operating reliability.Accordingly, there results a particularly large area of application ofthe device and a good adaptability to layout variants of assemblystations and systems.

If the slope conveyor is constructed as an oscillating conveyor, thestorage container can be rigidly coupled with the slope conveyor, sothat there is no need for a storage container with a moving base surfaceto have its own drive.

The device, according to the invention, can be further simplified if,the storage container is arranged above the conveying segment of theslope conveyor.

DRAWING

An embodiment example of the invention is shown in the drawing andexplained in more detail in the following description. In a schematicmanner,

FIG. 1 shows a top view of the orientation conveyor and the slopeconveyor, including the storage container, prior to assembly, and

FIG. 2 shows a section through the device according to line II--II inFIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT EXAMPLE

The device has a storage container 10 which forms a structural unit witha linear slope conveyor 12. Both units 10, 12 have a joint oscillatingdrive 14 which is arranged on a base plate 16 and is supported on afoundation 18 via the latter. A linear orientation conveyor 20, whichhas an oscillating drive 22, which is likewise fastened on the baseplate 16, is arranged adjacent to the slope conveyor 12 so as to beparallel to it.

The storage container 10 has an inclined base 24 which has its deepestarea in the container corner 26. There, in a common intermediate wall28, an opening 30 is provided which leads into a feed area 32 of theslope conveyor 12. The base 24 is inclined toward the intermediate wall28 and toward one partition 29 of the storage container 10, as shown inFIG. 1 by the angular symbols a and b. In addition, a pile-up of smallarticles located in the storage container 10 is indicated by the symbol34, and an arrow 36 illustrates the conveyance of the stored smallarticles toward the opening 30 when the oscillating drive 14 is running.

The slope conveyor 12 has a base 38 which leads in an ascending mannerfrom the feed area 32 to an output area 40 which is located higher thanthe latter. On the side remote of the storage container 10, the slopeconveyor 12 is defined by a side wall 42 which is provided with anupwardly open border blocking 44 in the feed area 32 and leaves open anopening 46 extending to the base 38. The starting area 40 is defined bya wall 47 which is slanted toward the conveying direction and deflectsarriving small articles into the opening 46 in the output area.

The base 38 of the slope conveyor 12 comprises a surface area 48 withcoarse surface which covers the feed area 32 completely and covers therest of the area of the slope conveyor 12 up to approximately half itswidth. Accordingly, a conveying segment 50 results on which the smallarticles arrive in the output area 40 from the feed area 32. Theremaining portion of the base 38 has a smooth surface and forms adeflecting segment 52 which runs in adjacent to the conveying segment 50and ends before the feed area 32. The arrangement is carried out in sucha way that the width of the deflecting segment 52 steadily decreases to0 starting from location 54.

The oscillating drive 14, the angle of inclination, the composition ofthe conveyor segment 50 and the deflecting segment 52 are adapted to thesmall articles, which are to be conveyed, in such a way that the smallarticles wander upward on the conveyor segment 50 and slide down on thedeflecting segment 52 in a wide area of the conveying capacity. Thesemovements are indicated by arrows at the symbols for the small articlesin FIG. 1. Moreover, the angle of inclination of the slope conveyor 12is selected so as to be large enough that small articles lying on top ofone another slide off of one another when there is the possibility ofdeflection and at least when the drive is running.

The orientation conveyor 20 has a side wall 58 which faces the slopeconveyor 12 and comprises an opening 59 which is located opposite theopening 46 of the slope conveyor 12, which opening 59 leads into a feedarea 60. The latter has a base 62 which slants downward until the heightof an orientation segment 64 according to the angular symbol c. Thisorientation segment 64 has a running surface which is defined in widthby a rear wall 65 and a longitudinal edge 66 which extends approximatelyto the middle of the width of the orientation conveyor 20. A returningsegment 68, which is defined in width by the side wall 58 and anintermediate wall 70, which extends vertically to the height of thelongitudinal edge 66, is arranged adjacent to the orientation segment 64so as to be parallel to it.

The intermediate wall 70 has a wall portion 72 which faces the feed area60 and continuously narrows the feed area 60 toward a transition area 74to the orientation segment 64. The returning segment 68 has a base 76which drops off slightly toward the side wall 58, which is provided withan opening 77 at the output of the returning segment 68, which opening77 extends until the base 76. This opening 77 is located in the sidewall 42 of the slope conveyor 12 opposite the border blocking 44 afterthe parts are assembled, wherein a tongue-like projection 78 of the base76 projects into the feed area 32 of the slope conveyor 12. The heightof the side wall 58 is decreased between points d and e to an overflowedge 79 (FIG. 2) which prevents a pile-up of small articles in thereturning segment 68.

The orientation segment 64 passes into an output segment 80 withoutinterfacing, which output segment 80 is constructed as a buffer segmentand can possibly be an exchangeable added part. The orientation segment64 itself is provided with baffles 82 which are only indicatedschematically in the drawing and which deflect small articles which arenot orientated into the returning segment 68 via the longitudinal edge66. The running surface and the baffles of the orientation segment 64are adapted to the small articles to be conveyed and are advisablyconstructed as exchangeable parts.

The described device operates as follows: The oscillating drive 14conveys the pile-up of small articles contained in the storage container10, for example, annular disks, toward the container corner 26, fromwhich the small articles arrive in the feed area 32 of the slopeconveyor 12 through the opening 30. The feed to the feed area 32 can beeffected in a controlled manner by means of sensors, not shown,regardless of the extent of accumulation in the feed area 32. In manycases, however, it is possible to make due without an additional controldevice, since the feed is automatically throttled if the filling statein the feed area 32 approaches the upper border of the opening 30. Thebase angle b of the storage container 10 is advisably selected so as tobe somewhat greater than the angle of inclination of the slope conveyor12 so that a conveying of the pile-up of small articles into thecontainer corner 26 is ensured in the storage container 10 in eachinstance.

From the feed area 32 of the slope conveyor 12, the small articles lyingon its base 38 are first moved to the -eft in the direction of the arrowalong its entire width. However, at the start of the deflecting segment,the conveyor width gradually narrows to the width of the conveyingsegment 50 on which the small articles are carried along in an upwarddirection. The small articles which are forced out laterally from theconveying segment 50 and arrive on the deflecting segment 52 slidedownward on the latter toward the feed area 32 and are channeled intothe conveying segment 50 again. In this way, after a determined fillinglevel or conveying capacity has been reached, a circulation arises inthe slope conveyor 12 which does not obstruct the conveying and whichpermits a certain storage or buffer operation for a partial quantity ofthe small articles which are to be conveyed to be assigned to the slopeconveyor 12 without a loss of operating reliability.

The advantageous effect of the deflecting segment 52 is furthersupported by means of the relatively large angle of inclination of theslope conveyor 12. Accordingly, a small article circulation also arisesin the longitudinal plane of the longitudinal conveyor 12, whichlongitudinal plane is perpendicular to the drawing plane; thiscirculation of small articles helps the latter to be conveyed from thefeed area 32 without jamming and prevents larger portions of thepiled-up articles from reaching the output area 40 of the slope conveyor12 from the feed area 32. The small articles are already separated, atleast to a great extent, when they arrive at the latter location and aredeflected into the feed area 60 of the orientation conveyor 20 by meansof the sloping wall 47.

In the feed area 60 of the orientation conveyor 20, the small articlesslide into the transition area 74 under the influence of gravitationalforce and the oscillating drive 22, and, from there, they reach theorientation segment 64. In the latter location, small articles which arenot orientated are deflected laterally at the baffles 82 into thereturning segment 68 on which they are returned to the feed area 32 ofthe slope conveyor 12. The orientated small articles are directedfurther into the output segment 80 and are fetched from the workstations as needed. When there is a back-up in the orientation segment64, small articles likewise fall into the returning segment 68 from thefeed area 60 or the transition area 74 via the base edge at the wallportion 72 and are returned to the feed area 32 of the slope conveyor 12in a determined manner from the returning segment 68.

If, in an exceptional case, a pile-up should also form in the returningsegment 68, the small articles are returned to the conveying segment 50of the slope conveyor 12 via the overflow edge 79. A circulation of thesmall articles in the slope conveyor 12 is supported by means of thereturn of the small articles to the feed area 32 of the slope conveyor,this return being purposeful under normal conditions; this circulationprevents a pile-up of small articles from forming in the output area 40and ensures a perfect operation of the device in cooperation with theaforementioned steps and means forming and promoting circulation.

The storage container 10 could also be constructed as an autonomousconstructional unit and could be provided with its own drive. Theprinciple of forming circulation in the slope conveyor 12 under theinfluence of the quantity of small articles located in its feed area 32,according to the invention, can also be realized if other conveyingmeans, e.g., belt conveyors, are provided instead of the oscillatingdrive. The storage container 10 could also be placed directly on theconveying segment 50 of a slope conveyor with oscillating drive, whereina deflecting segment can be dispensed with. The returning segment 68 ofthe orientation conveyor 20 could have its own drive or could also beconstructed in a different manner. It is important that it return therejected small articles to the feed area 32 of the slope conveyor 12 ina purposeful manner.

We claim:
 1. Device for storing small articles and conveying them in anorientated manner, comprising a storage container for an irregularpile-up of small articles, means for conveying small articles from thestorage container to a feed area of a linear slope conveyor, means fordeflecting the small articles arriving in an output area of the slopeconveyor to a feed area of a linear orientation conveyor, the outputarea being located at a higher level than said feed area of said slopeconveyor; the orientation conveyor being arranged adjacent to the slopeconveyor and extending parallel to it, and having an orientation segmentleading into a run-off in the opposite direction of the slope conveyor,said orientation segment being provided with baffles for orientating thesmall articles, said orientation conveyor further including a linearreturning segment for receiving small articles which are not orientated,or are excessive, or form a pile-up, said returning segment conveys inthe same direction as the orientation segment and leads to a devicewhich throws off the small articles on the slope conveyor; said slopeconveyor including a conveying segment and a deflecting segment, whichis adjacent to the conveying segment and extends parallel to it and islocated in the same slope plane to receive small articles which areforced out laterally from the conveying segment, the surface of thedeflecting segment being adapted to the qualities of the small articlesin such a way that the latter arrive back on in the feed area of theslope conveyor.
 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in thatthe orientation conveyor (20) is constructed as an oscillating conveyorand the base (62) of its feed area (60), as seen from the output area(40) of the slope conveyor (12), is inclined diagonally in a downwarddirection until approximately the height of the orientation segment(64); further, in that the returning segment (68) is lower than theorientation segment (64), but higher than the feed area (32) of theslope conveyor (12); and in that the returning segment (68) is providedat its longitudinal border facing the slope conveyor (12) with a bordershoulder (58, 79) or raised base portion which extends until the place(77, 78) at which the returned small articles are thrown off.
 3. Deviceaccording to claim 2, characterized in that the transition from the feedarea (60) of the orientation conveyor (20) to its returning segment (68)is formed at a wall (72) which continuously narrows the feed area (60)toward the transition area (74) to the orientation segment (64). 4.Device according to claim 1 wherein the run-off of the orientationconveyor (20) is constructed as a buffer segment (80) which is connectedwith the orientation segment (64), preferably without interfaces. 5.Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the angle ofinclination of the slope conveyor (12) is selected so as to be at leastlarge enough that small articles, which lie on top of one another, slideoff of one another when there is a possibility of deflection and atleast when the drive (14) is running.
 6. Device according to claim 4,wherein the deflecting segment (52) is arranged on the side of theconveyor segment (50) of the slope conveyor (12) which is remote of theorientation conveyor (20).
 7. Device according to claim 1 wherein theconveying segment (50) and the deflecting segment (52) have a commondrive (14) and a joint base element (38) which has two adjacent surfaceareas with different surface characteristics.
 8. Device according toclaim 7, characterized in that in the feed area (32) of the slopeconveyor (12), the surface area (48) forming the conveying segment (50)occupies the entire width of the base element (38) and in that the widthof the surface area forming the deflecting segment (52) continuouslyincreases at least along a portion of its length.
 9. Device according toclaim 1, wherein the feed of small articles from the storage container(10) to the feed area (32) of the slope conveyor (12) is effected in acontrolled manner according to the extent of its occupation,particularly in its feed area (12).
 10. Device according to claim 1,wherein the slope conveyor (12) is constructed as an oscillatingconveyor and is rigidly coupled with a storage container.
 11. Deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the storage container is arranged abovethe conveyor segment (50) of the slope conveyor (12).
 12. Deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the returning segment is arranged betweenthe orientation segment and the slope conveyor.
 13. Device according toclaim 5, wherein the deflecting segment is arranged on the side of theconveying segment of the slope conveyor which is remote of theorientation conveyor.
 14. Device according to claim 5 wherein theconveying segment and the deflecting segment have a common drive and ajoint base element which has two adjacent surface areas with differentsurface characteristics.
 15. Device according to claim 6, wherein theconveying segment and the deflecting segment have a common drive and ajoint base element which has two adjacent surface areas with differentsurface characteristics.
 16. Device according to claim 1 wherein saidstorage container and said slope conveyor have a common oscillatingdrive, and said orientation conveyor having a separate oscillatingdrive.